I fail to understand republicans anymore. They have all the money in the world to waste on stunts like operation lone star which sent Texas State Police to the border to search vehicles already searched by the border patrol. They are wasting 2.5 million every week on that stunt alone. They so far have found nothing. But it looks good, looks tough on border crime right? How many millions to take over a park, run reams and reams of razor wire on land and in the water, wire that has been found illegal, yet they keep doing it. What they are not willing to do is feed kids! They are willing to let poor kids go hungry and starve. There is no money for feeding them they claim. Or is it that they don’t want to feed the poor non-white kids? Is the skin tone of the parents or kids what the issue is? Or is it that hungry kids can be forced to work cheaply, even illegally for people. I know what a hungry child will do for food, god save their souls. One church leader said if the government would stop helping poor people it would force them to join churches and turn to the lord for help. Great reasoning there. Starve them until they join the gang. It seems to be epidemic in red states, and I am really tired of it. Feed the kids damn it, or admit you are unfit to run a government. Hugs. Scottie
Millions of Texas children would have been able to use this service, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
TEXAS, USA — For some children in the U.S., school lunchtime might be the only meal they eat all day.
To help combat this issue, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is offering its first-ever free summer school lunch program for participants across the country.
This year, 35 states are joining the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer program – but Texas is not one of them.
According to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, the state would not have enough time to organize the program before summertime begins.
Now, the USDA says approximately 3.8 million children in Texas will miss out on the chance for $120 worth of food, per person, from grocery stores, farmers markets and other locations.
Approximately 21 million children across the country will receive a total of $2.5 billion benefits, in areas including Hawaii, New York, Guam, American Samoa, the Osage Nation and more.
Children 18 years old or younger are eligible to join the program free of charge, with a specific emphasis on low-income families.
Each month, families will receive $40 per child, available on a pre-paid card and the government plans to cover half of the administrative fees for participating schools.
According to the USDA, the program can help lower food insecurity among children by 33%, or one-third. Children utilizing the program are said to have higher access to whole grain, dairy, fruits and vegetables, with an emphasis on healthier living.
Last summer, Austin ISD and the Central Texas Food Bank partnered to provide more than 5,000 free meals to children under 18 years old through a separate program.
Ma was an elementary school teacher assigned in the mid-60s, at the start of her career, to one of the poorest schools in Rochester, NY. She quickly learned many of her majority Black students were so poor their families could not afford both breakfast & lunch, but were embarrassed about it, so would send the kids to school with a bag lunch, but on an empty stomach. The kids ended up eating their lunches on the way to school and had nothing for the rest of the day, often falling asleep in the afternoons.
Ma had an extra toaster that was a wedding present, and brought it in, insisting every student in her class got a 1/2 piece of peanut butter toast to start the day, no matter how much breakfast they claimed to have eaten. Her kids stopped eating their lunches on their way to school. Test scores skyrocketed. Her principal called her in to ask how she’d done it. “I fed them,” was all she replied.
Far too many teachers do things like this. With their own money. On their own time. I’m not saying it wasn’t good that they did it, but it shouldn’t be necessary. We underpay workers and they are doing the best that they could. What kind of monster wants to keep hungry children from eating. CHILDREN. Sometimes I wished I believed in heaven and hell. All those teachers like your mom. (She sounds great but she’s also one of thousands who also went above and beyond.) They would be queens in an afterlife and all the selfish bastards would be tortured for all eternity.
What kind of monster wants to keep hungry children from eating.
The kind of monster who doesn’t care whether these children grow up healthy and hopes they live short, miserable lives and it’s a big bonus if they don’t reproduce.
IOW, Republicans.
And the same people always screaming “what about the children?” They don’t care about children. If they did they ‘d fund public schools.
But if you feed them, and test scores improve, who will want to fill all those minimum wage positions? They’ll have to cut back on Social Security and put all the lazy seniors to work! /s
I always had bulk amounts of granola bars and cup-of-soups available in my classroom, and my school’s food program was very active in providing breakfast, lunch and snacks to ALL students. I often brought in fresh watermelon, pineapple, and cherry tomatoes. So many kids had never eaten a fresh cherry tomato. I made a lot of converts!
(Edit to add: I worked with a fundie who was so grateful to his father-in-law for unexpectedly bringing him some cold pizza on a day he’d forgotten his lunch box…he just knew God had sent him. I asked, “Did your father-in-law also bring food for all the kids who didn’t have lunch and won’t have dinner?” He just looked at me.)
Rethugs are all about the cruelty. They get their rocks off abusing the powerless. I truly wish I could believe there was a Hell for them to rot/burn in, but alas, I cannot.
Christians spreading goodness around the world.
They’re never too young to pull themselves up by the boot straps.
I’m waiting for them to start saying school is a privilege, not a right.
Hey, they’re loosening child labour laws so the little shits can earn their own lunch money!!
A school lunch in Austin costs like $4
Governor Wheels has spent $148 M busing people all over the US
That is 37M school lunches.
Multiple other red states have refused to accept federal grants meant to feed those lazy unemployed children.
And after Republicans went to all the trouble of lowering the working age, so they could get jobs. Little ingrates. Serves them right. If they were really hungry, they’d get jobs.
Scottie's Playtime 